The UMW 2011 Philharmonic Holiday POPS concert featured (from left, in green) Ruth Ungar Merenda, Jay Ungar, Maestro Kevin Bartram, Molly Mason, and Michael Merenda. Photo by Dan Donehey
UMW’s 2011 Philharmonic Holiday POPS concert warmed the spirits of Fredericksburg music lovers, and if things go as planned, it will do the same for folks across the country. The footage is in the running to be part of a PBS television holiday special.
Emmy-winning producer Jim Brown corralled cameras, crewmembers, and bright TV lights inside Dodd Auditorium to film A Down-Home Christmas, featuring husband-wife folk duo Jay Ungar and Molly Mason. Also onstage was next-generation husband-wife folk duo Ruth Ungar Merenda and Michael Merenda.
In Ungar’s practiced hand, the bow glided over violin strings, producing haunting melodies including Ashokan Farewell, the title theme from Ken Burns’ Grammy-winning PBS documentary The Civil War.
Mason joined in on vocals, bass, and mandolin in a sampling of songs from the couple’s recent release, The Pleasures of Winter, featuring traditional Appalachian, Quebecois, and Shetland Island numbers. The duo, their family, and the UMW orchestra under the baton of Kevin Bartram presented songs like Silent Night Two Step and Settin’ by the Fire, sing-alongs, and special arrangements of Jay Ungar’s original compositions performed for the first time with an orchestra.
While in Fredericksburg to film the concert, the camera crew shot scenes of downtown at Christmastime and footage from area battlefields to commemorate this year’s 150th anniversary of the Battle of Fredericksburg.